What is “Fitness” and how can training martial arts at home positively impact your fitness?
Fitness has been defined by the US President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports as “the ability to carry out daily tasks efficiently with enough energy left over to enjoy leisure time pursuits and to meet unforeseen emergencies.”
Fitness is not the same as health. Olympic athletes can be ill. A person can be in perfect health but be unable to run or swim only a few hundred yards.
Physical fitness is part of a healthy lifestyle. Other parts are nutrition and a healthy outlook on life. Good fitness means having the ability to live life fully. It is also gives you the ability to experience everything life has to offer. A good fitness level allows you to pursue your dreams with the confidence that your body can help you accomplish them.
A True Story about Fitness…
Over a century ago an American boy was sickly and weak. His condition was brought on by childhood disease. In order to escape from his physical handicaps the boy took refuge in books and reading. As he grew his mind grew strong, as his body became weaker and weaker.
His father became very concerned so he told his 12-year-old son, “You have the mind but not the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. You must make your body strong, I know you will do it.” Then the wise father gave his son weights and other gymnastic equipment and worked with him to strengthen his frail young body.
The boy listened to his father’s advice and was encouraged not only to improve his health, but also to become a superior athlete. He graduated from Harvard University and went on to lead a vigorous, active life of truly amazing achievement. His name was Theodore Roosevelt who was the youngest person ever to become President of the United States at the age of 42.
Throughout his life, Theodore Roosevelt practiced what he called “the strenuous life.” He had an energetic commitment to physical activities that included boxing, horseback riding, swimming, hiking and many others. He discovered that an important foundation for good health is movement and activity. He demonstrated that our bodies are deigned to get stronger as they are constantly used and challenged with purposeful physical activities.
Teddy Roosevelt’s life is a dramatic example of achieving and maintaining good health. What his example shows us is that there is nothing more essential to building true success than good fitness.
Practicing Martial Arts at Home Increases Fit Muscles…
Muscles are the engines of your body and one of the primary foundations of your overall fitness. They move your limbs, drive blood around the body, force food through the digestive system and have many other uses.
When getting fit, we usually are talking about improving our skeletal muscles, the muscles that move our head, trunk and limbs.
There are 400 skeletal muscles that shape your physique. Your skeletal muscles support over 200 bones that make up your body. When you exercise you are applying tension to your skeletal muscles. If your muscles aren’t firm your bones do not handle the load properly. This results in poor posture, which is not merely unattractive, but puts pressure on the nerves and disks along the spine. This in turn can cause back pain as well as pain and numbness in the extremities.
A good exercise program tones your muscles and takes the pressure off your lower back. Building strength is something that happens over a period of time as you work out your muscles. Muscle strength can be improved faster by using progressive resistance, such as weights, isometrics, dips, chin-ups and the like. Lifting your legs in kicking exercises, punching and kicking the heavy bag, doing push-ups and sit-ups and shadow boxing are all ways training martial arts at home helps to improve your muscle tone, strength and overall fitness. Also the many movements you do in traditional martial arts training at home such as kata (open hand forms), kobudo kata (weapons forms) and self-defense techniques can strengthen your muscles.
By developing muscle tone you are improving your body’s fitness level and increasing your chance of living a long and healthy life. This, along with the other two keys of fitness, cardiovascular fitness and flexibility, will help you lead a truly successful life.
Common Sense Fitness Tip…
You’ve heard it said a million times before, but I want to put it out there to you one more time! Finding ways to continuously increase your movement throughout your day can dramatically add to your overall fitness. Some examples of this are taking the stairs instead of elevators or escalators, parking the farthest point possible when arriving at work or visiting a store, standing up and walking 90 seconds every hour also keeps your body moving. And of course, staying focused with your current martial arts home practice schedule will keep you moving daily and headed in a positive direction for your personal fitness.
Practicing Martial Arts at Home Increases Flexibility…
Flexibility is the mobility or range of motion in a joint. A joint is considered flexible when the muscles and connective tissues around it do not restrict its natural range of motion. For example, you should be able to extend your arm straight out at a 90° angle from your body and then flex your elbow joint enough to rest your hand comfortably on your shoulder. A flexible elbow joint allows full extension and flexion of your arm.
Most experts agree that maintaining good flexibility reduces the chance of injury for the athletic person. Muscles that aren’t stretched are short and restrict the range of motion in the joints. This makes the joints more susceptible to pulls, tears and stress injuries. Limited flexibility can lead to orthopedic problems such as painful Achilles tendinitis caused by short calf muscles.
Good flexibility also improves athletic performance. Short muscles detract from the grace of a gymnast, dancer, martial artist and ice skater. It can also limit the stroke and power of a golfer or tennis player as well as the range of motion and swing of a baseball player. As a martial artist you need an above average range of motion to prevent injuries while kicking, punching and performing your martial arts.
Your posture is also affected by your flexibility, which in turn affects your athletic performance and general well being. Persons who stand and sit correctly head centered shoulders down and back, chest high and abdomen flat give the impression of being alert and confident. Those who slump and have rounded shoulders, drooping head and excessive curvature of the spine due to short chest, hamstring and pelvic muscles may develop a poor self-image and convey an unfavorable impression to others.
Through the continued development of your flexibility, along with toning your muscles and developing your cardiovascular system, you will maintain good fitness your whole life long.
This translates into a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle and the image of success, to you and to others.
Practicing Martial Arts at Home Increases Cardiovascular Health..
Of all the elements of physical fitness, the most crucial is cardiovascular endurance. Cardiovascular fitness can be defined as the ability of the heart and lungs to take oxygen from the air and deliver it throughout the body. The stronger the heart and the more elastic the lungs, the better the cardiovascular system delivers oxygen to the cells of the body. The better your cardiovascular system works, the livelier you feel, the sharper your mind and the greater likelihood you’ll have a reserve of energy at the end of the day.
In order for your cardiovascular system to receive benefit from a workout, you must be able to sustain the exercise for at least 20 minutes. These aerobic exercises should use the large muscle groups such as the legs or the arms and shoulders. Exercises such as brisk walking, distance running, swimming, cross country skiing, rowing, jumping rope, adults shadow boxing, sparring, or just practicing your kicks and punches place a substantial demand on your cardiovascular system, which develops your heart and lungs.
To achieve optimum aerobic benefits you need to exercise at least three times a week for 30 minutes each time. Your exercise routine should go like this; five minutes of warm-up to get your heart rate elevated gradually, 20 minutes of aerobic workout and five minutes of cool down to bring down your heart rate gently. Less than this will not give you adequate training.
Through your martial arts training you have began to take charge of your cardiovascular health. This is one of the most important decisions that you can make for ongoing achievement and success in your life.
Developing Your Martial Arts at Home Teaches Good Breathing…
In addition to exercise, one way to increase your supply of oxygen is by learning to breathe properly.
Most people breathe from 16 to 20 times a minute or as much as 28,000 times per day. Those who don’t watch their breathing tend to become shallow or upper chest breathers. This is sometimes called ‘incomplete breathers’ with the result of oxygen starvation. Normal breathing doesn’t get enough oxygen into your system to adequately supply your brain and the rest of your body’s cells. To overcome this you need to have a program of deep, focused breathing.
Our Traditional Martial Arts Online Course has several deep breathing exercises to help expand your breathing, and improve your overall fitness.
Deep breathing will improve your health. It’s a simple process that takes just a few minutes a day and can be done anywhere, anytime.
Another very important part of fitness is proper rest. In the Alameda study that looked at 20,000 men over a 22-year period, it was discovered that getting seven or eight hours of sleep a night was closely correlated to high levels of health, energy, and physical fitness.
It is also important to rest your body regularly from your fitness regimen. Even the best athletes take off at least one day a week to let their bodies recuperate. Also, if you do work that works your brain all week long, take a full day where you don’t do anything that taxes it in any way.
Through proper breathing and rest you optimize your fitness level and health. You can add years to your life and life to your years. Something everyone wants for his or her long-term success.
True Fitness with your Online Martial Arts Course…
Health and Vitality are so important to true success in life. In fact, it’s your most valuable possession. People throughout history have been quoted saying that they would give all they have for just having better health or having another day of life. Experts tell us that two-thirds of all deaths in the United States are premature. By making a commitment to health you are also making a commitment not to be one of those statistics.
Health is more than just the absence of disease. It’s a state of complete physical and metal well being. This comes from dedicating yourself to becoming as health conscious and knowledgeable as you possibly can.
In order to succeed you need to have energy. Energy comes from having good health and a healthy lifestyle. It comes from making a commitment to a high level of fitness. You need to take excellent care of your magnificent machine. A good fitness program will go a long way towards developing the proper energy levels you need for success.
Finally avoid things like smoking, excessive drinking of alcohol or the abuse of any drug. It doesn’t matter what kind of fitness program you have if you’re abusing your body it won’t last. You’ll wear out much too soon.
Be fit, live long, and train hard! You’ll be glad you did your whole life long!
Until next time….all the best to you,
Sensei Mark Roscoe
